NATIONAL BESTSELLER*Winner of the Douglas Kennedy Prize for Best Foreign Thriller *Shortlisted for the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize *Shortlistd for the Arthur Ellis Best First Crime Novel Award

A compulsive, bestselling debut thriller about a tangled love triangle, the secrets we keep, and the secrets we share.

The detective wants to know what happened to Saskia, as if I could just skip to the ending and all would be well. But stories begin at the beginning and some secrets have to be earned.

Angela is being held in a police interrogation room. Her ex’s wife has gone missing and Detective Novak is sure Angela knows something, despite her claim that she’s not involved.

At Novak’s prodding, Angela tells a story going back ten years, explaining how she met and fell in love with her high school friend HP. But as her past unfolds, she reveals a disconcerting love triangle and a dark, tangled web of betrayals. Is Angela a scorned ex-lover with criminal intent? Or a pawn in someone else’s revenge scheme? Who is she protecting? And why?

Twisty and suspenseful, Our Little Secret is an intense cat-and-mouse game and a riveting thriller about the lies we tell others—and ourselves.

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Our Little Secret By Roz Nay Reading Group Guide

This reading group guide for Our Little Secret includes an introduction, discussion questions, and ideas for enhancing your book club. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.

Introduction

Angela is being held in a police interrogation room. Her ex’s wife has gone missing and Detective Novak is sure Angela knows something, despite her claim that she’s not involved.

At Novak’s prodding, Angela tells a story going back ten years, explaining how she met and fell in love with her high school friend HP. But as her past unfolds, she reveals a disconcerting love triangle and a dark, tangled web of betrayals. Is Angela a scorned ex-lover with criminal intent? Or a pawn in someone else’s revenge scheme? Who is she protecting? And why?

Twisty and suspenseful, Our Little Secret is an intense cat-and-mouse game and a riveting thriller about the lies we tell others—and ourselves.

Topics & Questions for Discussion

1. When Angela first meets Detective Novak, he asks that she fill in the blanks about Saskia. In order to answer Novak’s questions, Angela goes back ten years, despite the fact that she doesn’t meet Saskia until after high school. Why does Angela choose to begin her story from this point?

2. In the interrogation room, Angela notices a small line of graffiti on the wall that reads: “the urge to destroy is creative.” When reading the novel, did these lines affect your interpretation of Angela or the stories she was telling?

3. During the course of the book, both Angela’s and HP’s names change according to who is addressing them. She is Angela, Little John, or LJ; he is HP or Hamish. What do these nicknames indicate about the characters and how they relate to themselves and others?

4. Discuss Angela’s relationship with HP. They started out as best friends, and then they started dating. How did you feel when they got together? Why do you think they broke up?

5. In high school, HP says that Angela is his soul mate, but Saskia believes she and HP are soul mates. Do you think that HP and Angela were meant to be? Can you have more than one soul mate?

6. When HP first befriends Angela, he tells her, “Some secrets you have to earn.” Does Angela earn HP’s secrets? If yes, how? How does Detective Novak earn Angela’s secrets?

7. What were your initial impressions of Freddy? As Angela’s friend, do you think he had good intentions? Was he a good or bad influence in Angela’s life?

8. Angela’s dad was determined to get her into an Ivy League school, and her mom was obsessed with Angela dating HP. Why do you think her parents were fixated on these life goals? Did these pressures affect Angela even after she finished high school? How so?

9. Angela’s mom suggests that Angela make a Manifestation Jar in hopes that she can forgive and forget after her miserable summer watching HP and Saskia together. But when the jar resurfaces, Detective Novak uses it as evidence against Angela. Do you think Angela believed her manifestations would come true? Did the jar have a positive or negative affect on her life?

10. People often have a time in their life that they think of as golden, or as the best time of their life—for Angela, that time is high school and her relationship with HP. How does this idolization of her past affect her present and future?

11. Saskia is obsessed with elephants because they mate for life and mourn their dead. Why is the elephant such an important symbol? And what is the significance of the necklace that Detective Novak presents to Angela?

12. Later in the novel, Saskia tells Angela, “Sometimes I think we met on the same night because of fate.” Do you think Angela believes in fate? Does fate direct Angela’s actions? How?

13. Is Angela a trustworthy narrator? Why or why not?

14. Discuss the structure of the book. What effect does alternating between Angela’s present interrogation and her memory of the past have on the story? Did learning about Angela’s past help you better understand her future actions?

15. Is Angela a sympathetic protagonist? Did your feelings about Angela change as you read the book? If so, how?

16. Discuss the power of love in the novel. Discuss the power of obsession.

17. How does the author foreshadow the final events of the novel? Did you see the twist coming or were you surprised by the novel’s outcome?

18. Could Saskia’s death have been prevented? Why or why not?

19. Discuss Angela’s final revelation to Detective Novak. Is she manipulating him or does she truly believe in her own version of the events?

20. What do you think happens to the characters after the novel is over? How do you think the events will impact each of their lives and relationships going forward?

Enhance Your Book Club

1. Angela idolizes her time in high school and with HP, and is therefore unable to move on from that time in her life. Is there a time in your life that you have idolized? When was it? Tell your book club about it.

2. Make a manifestation jar with the members of your book club. According to Angela’s mom, “You take little pieces of paper, write down your hopes and dreams and pop them into the jar.” Sounds easy enough!

3. To learn more about Roz Nay, you can visit her website www.roznay.com or follow her on twitter at @roznay1 for regular updates on her writing.

Roz Nay’s debut novel, Our Little Secret, was a national bestseller, won the Douglas Kennedy Prize for best foreign thriller in France, and was nominated for the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Mystery and the Arthur Ellis Best First Novel Award. Roz has lived and worked in Africa, Australia, the US, and the UK. She now lives in British Columbia, Canada, with her husband and two children. Visit her at RozNay.com or connect with her on Twitter @RozNay1.

“Bound to draw comparisons to Ruth Ware and Sophie Hannah, Roz Nay’s crackling debut begins on the scene of a woman being interrogated by police for hours on end, and from there, unfurls a memorably twisted love story.”

– Entertainment Weekly

“A cracking read. Flicking back and forth from the first love to a police cell, Our Little Secret builds to a deliciously dark conclusion.”

– RUTH WARE, author of The Woman in Cabin 10

“One of the best grip-lit titles of the year. . . . The writing, it must be said, is supremely seductive. Nay draws the reader in with compelling characters, deliciously dark themes, clever turns of phrase and heightened levels of suspense. What’s more, the intimate bond that Angela shares with charismatic, sun-kissed swim captain HP is nothing short of mesmerizing. Nay’s psychological thriller will have readers clamouring for more.”

– Toronto Star

“A guaranteed good read. . . . You’re likely to read it in one breathless sitting.”

– The Globe and Mail

“A clever and addictive read that had me enthralled from the first chapter all the way to the shocking twist that left me breathless. I stayed in bed one lazy afternoon and polished it off, then stared up at my ceiling, stunned that it was over and still half in love with the characters. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a debut this good. Roz Nay is going to be a name we hear a lot of in the future.”

– CHEVY STEVENS, bestselling author of Still Missing

“In her debut novel, Roz Nay lures readers down a dark and tangled path that explores the aftereffects of lost first loves. Our Little Secret is a gripping addition to the psych thriller world.”

– MARY KUBICA, New York Times–bestselling author of The Good Girl

“A gripping and unsettling story, which left me guessing until the very end.”

– B. A. PARIS, author of Behind Closed Doors

“In Roz Nay’s tightly woven debut, Our Little Secret, we meet Angela—a wily woman with a twisted love story, who is in quite a heap of trouble. As the story unfolds and the mystery deepens, the breadcrumbs Nay expertly leaves behind reveal a dark truth you won’t see coming. Ruth Ware fans will love this compulsive, impossible-to-put-down novel!”

– KARMA BROWN, bestselling author of Come Away with Me

“A sneaky-smart, charismatic debut that will win fans among those who enjoy the kind of duplicitous and deliciously complex psychological suspense written by Ruth Ware, Sophie Hannah, and Erin Kelly.”

– Booklist (Starred Review)

“Fans of Paula Hawkins and Ruth Ware will devour this twisty psychological thriller; Nay has expertly crafted a narrative that has the potential to veer in several directions, keeping the readers enthralled and guessing until the end.”

– Library Journal (Starred Review)

“Roz Nay shows how the past is never truly past, and can be darker than we guess, especially when it comes to first loves. A most promising debut.”

– ANDREW PYPER, bestselling author of The Demonologist and The Only Child

“A stunning debut. . . . Our Little Secret is a deliciously twisted novel about a love triangle. It’s so suspenseful your heart will be pounding as you hurry to the end. Roz Nay has proven she can write the thriller you haven't read before.”

– LIZ FENTON and LISA STEINKE, authors of The Good Widow

“Keeps readers enthralled with prose that’s at once lyrical and incisive.”

– Shelf Awareness

“Nay expertly spins an insidious clever web, perfectly capturing the soaring heights and crushing lows of first love and how the loss of that love can make even the sanest people a little crazy. Carve out some time for this riveting, one-sitting read.”

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